Using Zappers in a Common Learning Space A guide for tutors Created by Adam Warren Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit

Introduction This guide shows you how to use zappers to support a teaching session in a Common Learning Space.  It assumes that the room has a PC and data projector installed.  It assumes that you have already prepared the PowerPoint presentation and have saved it on a USB flash drive.

Step 1: setting up From arrival in the Common Learning Space to starting your presentation

Distributing the zappers  You may want to delegate this to one or more students.  Make sure you know how many zappers have been handed out. = number brought minus number left in carry-case(s)

Log in to PC  Log in to the PC and activate the data projector in the usual way. Time = 30 seconds  If you need to switch on the PC… Time = 4 minutes

Plug in the USB devices  USB flash drive  USB zapper receiver – The green LED should light up – There is no need for ‘line of sight’ between the receiver and the zapper handsets

The easiest mistake:  Starting PowerPoint by double-clicking on your presentation file – Everything will look OK – But your students won’t be able to vote – You will have to quit PowerPoint, start Turning Point, re-open your presentation and advance to the correct slide  Remember to start Turning Point first and then open your presentation

Start the Turning Point software This should take about 40 seconds

Open your PowerPoint file Note the Turning Point menu bar If you can’t see it, you mistakenly started PowerPoint instead of Turning Point – quit and start again!

Start your presentation Note the location of this small Slide Show button

Step 2: ready to vote? Making sure that every student can vote

It is a good idea to make sure that every student can vote at the start of your presentation. At the title slide, ask them to press 1 on their handset and check that the LED flashes yellow

If some students can’t vote…  The LED will flash red/yellow for a couple of seconds  Simply swap their handset for a spare.  If several students have problems they can reset the channel.

Resetting a zapper to channel 41 tip:don’t rush – make each button press firm and distinct 1.Press the GO button – the light flashes red and green 2.Set channel 41 by pressing 4 and then 1 3.Press the GO button to finish 4.Check it works by pressing 1 – the light should flash yellow This slide is available as a stand-alone presentation to show your students – but the procedure is simple: Play

If none of your students can vote…  This means that the link between the USB receiver and the Turning Point software is not working correctly.  This may happen if you forget, and plug in the USB receiver after you have started Turning Point or opened your presentation.  It doesn’t happen very often, and is easy to fix quickly.

If none of your students can vote…  Press Esc to stop your presentation – PowerPoint is now in edit mode  Unplug the USB zapper receiver – Wait a couple of seconds – Plug it back in again  Click the tiny Slide Show icon to re-start your presentation at the same point

Step 3: voting How question slides work

How to manage question slides 1.When you reach a question slide – Talk about the question if you need to – Give students time to read and think – Students can start voting immediately 2.Advance the slide to close the vote – A count-down timer can be used 3.Advance again to display the vote results To advance the slide you can:  Click the left mouse button  Click the left arrow key  Press the space bar  Press the Enter key

When you reach a question slide, this Turning Point toolbar will appear Note that polling is open (green) and the number of responses = 0 Tell your students to start voting.

Keep an eye on the number of responses. Have all your students voted? Voting will not close until your next mouse click. 7

When you click the mouse, polling is closed (red). You can add a count-down timer to a question to give students a few extra seconds before polling is closed Click once more to display the results of the vote

The results of the vote are displayed You can come back to this slide later if you wish. Students will not be asked to vote a second time.

Step 4: finishing up Saving the voting data and collecting the handsets

Carry on with your presentation  Work through your slides and questions  When you finish and close the presentation you can choose to: – Save the updated slides, with bar charts showing how your students voted – Save the voting data for further analysis  You can easily reset your slides in Turning Point, ready for a new cohort of students

When you close the file at the end of your presentation, PowerPoint asks if you want to save your changes Click Yes if you want to save the bar chart slides that show the votes You will be able to save the vote data in the next step even if you click No

To quit PowerPoint completely you’ll also need to close the two blank presentations that are created when you start Turning Point

When you close PowerPoint, it asks if you want to save the session data Click Yes if you want to save the voting data for further analysis

You can change the default location for the data file from My Documents > Turning Point > Sessions You can change the default name for the data file from New Session +date +time

At the end of the teaching session  Unplug the USB zapper receiver and your USB flash drive  Log out of the PC and shut down the data projector  Collect all the handsets as your students leave the room – Or get a student to do this for you – Have you got all of them back?

If any handsets are missing…  your students and ask them to check their bags for the missing handset(s). – You can use Blackboard’s function  Point out that you will not be able to carry on using zappers in their lectures if they go missing.  Note that it is unusual for handsets to go missing.

Resetting a presentation  When you close a Turning Point presentation, you can choose to save the bar charts showing how the students voted. – You could save that file using a new name  You can reset a saved presentation so that a new cohort of students can vote. – The bar charts are reset

1. Select Reset > Session 2. Start your presentation

If you have any questions, please contact LATEU or x23315